(L-R) Dochterman, Matessino, Wise and Fein at a pre-release screening of the Director's Edition

(L-R) Dochterman, Matessino, Wise and Fein at a pre-release screening of the Director's Edition

Michael "Mike" A. Matessino, usually credited as Mike Matessino, was the restoration supervisor who was involved in the making of the director's editionDVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was Matessino, together with partner David C. Fein, who originally approached director Robert Wise to do a revised version of the film on video, when they were working for Wise's production company, Robert Wise Productions, on the 1994 commemorative documentary The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon. (The New York Times, 10 February, 2002, p. 26) It took an additional three years of lobbying before Wise relented and green-lighted the project. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 25) Matessino in particular, had apparently something of a bone to pick with the movie, as was evidenced in a letter he wrote in as a youth to Starlog magazine, "...I expected the movie to be spectacular, even though I was hoping that it wouldn't be better than Star Wars. It stunk! I saw the movie again the following week thinking I would like it better. I didn't like it better. It was even worse. I was never a real Trekkie." (Starlog, issue 33, April 1980, p. 8). His youthful feelings notwithstanding, his work on the director's edition won him, and his co-workers, a Video Premiere Award.

Matessino was featured in the "Redirecting The Future"-documentary on the DVD, in which he, and his co-workers discuss the work they have done for the project. In addition, he and his co-workers were featured in an after-the-fact, separately produced audio commentary, released in 2007 as a podcast on StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website and which, at the time, could be downloadedwbm at the site.

Career outside Star Trek

A New York City native, and graduate of New York University's film and television program, Mike Matessino, a "film historian and preservationist, with particular emphasis on the restoration of film music" as he describes himself on his website, had from early childhood developed a passion for motion pictures and, in particular, their music scores.

After having moved to California, Matessino found a kindred spirit in fellow New York City film buff David Fein, with whom he founded their own production company in 1991, Sharpline Arts, located in Glendale, California, intended to produce "special features" for inclusion on home media formats, LaserDisc in particular, followed by DVD at a later stage. Daren Dochterman served in the early years as executive director for the company. [1] The company's first project was the 1991 LaserDisc Aliens–Special Wide-Screen Collector's Edition. The release was very well received at the time in movie collector circles, as it was a portent for things to come. Not only were several in-depth making-of documentaries included, but the footage was also cleaned up, deleted scenes were inserted and the soundtrack was remastered, Mattesino's forte. Projects, especially those of director James Cameron, that followed in the same vein were, Alien–Special Wide-Screen Collector's Edition (1992), The Abyss: Special Edition (1993), Independence Day: Special Edition (1995), The Thing: Special Edition (1998) and others. Released at first on LaserDisc, all special features were later one-on-one transferred to their DVD and Bluray successors. The project the company received the most renown for, was the 1999 The "ALIEN" Legacy DVD collection. [2] The company has attained somewhat of a legendary status in movie collector circles, as it has set the standard for how "special editions" should be produced. [3] Aside from producing the documentaries, Sharpline Arts also restored music scores for studios on commission base, which included those of the Star Wars franchise, Poltergeist, Superman, and The Omen, something Matessino, as the resident soundtrack expert, was mainly responsible for. [4] As sub-contractors, the company (more specifically its two founders) worked in the 1990s for Robert Wise Productions on their productions of the special editions of The Sound of Music (1994), The Sand Pebbles and of course the director's edition of The Motion Picture. While not bankrupt, Sharpline Arts has become dormant since 2003, the retrospective documentary DVD Discoveries (in which the two founders look back on their productions while operating their company), its last recorded production.

After his work on The Motion Pictures, Mike Matessino worked from 2001-2005 as sound editor and mixer, mostly employed at Varèse Sarabande, on numerous music scores. [5] In 2005 he switched to La-La Land Records in the same capacity, as well as in that of producer, eventually resulting in his participation on the two Star Trek expanded soundtrack projects. A year later, former partner David Fein rejoined him at the company.

Star Trek awards

For his work on the Star Trek franchise, Mike Matessino received the following awards:

DVD Exclusive Award

Matessino won the following DVD Exclusive Award (at the time called Video Premiere Award) as restoration supervisor in the category Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes

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